Review: Girl Through Glass by Sari Wilson

At eleven years old, Mira is an aspiring ballet dancer in the cutthroat New York City ballet. Her parents are going through a divorce and dance is her escape from life's tribulations, it's beauty and power granting her control.

It is here that she meets 47-year-old Maurice DuPont who becomes her friend and mentor.  She keeps their relationship a secret from her parents.  They've caused so much emotional chaos that she feels the need to have something of her own.

Over the next few years, Mira continues to thrive, eventually accepted in the renowned School of American Ballet, run by the famous George Balanchine.  She quickly becomes one of "Mr. B's girls," a dancer chosen for greatness. In time, too, her relationship with Maurice intensifies, until it reaches an point that changes both of their lives.

Fast forward to present day.  Kate is a professor of dance.  She embarks upon a relationship with a student that has potential to ruin her career and the future she painstakingly worked for.  When she receives a letter from a man she believed long dead, she is forced to reunite with a past she thought long dismissed.

When I accepted this title for review, I didn’t know what to expect. I thought it was a ballet book, certainly something outside of my realm of familiarity.  Yet so many trusted readers were singing its praises so I opted to accept the challenge.  Yes, it is a book about a young girl immersed in the highly challenging world of ballet, yet it is so much more.

The reader follows Mira as she goes through this journey of growth and self-discovery. Her relationship with Maurice begins innocently enough, but it’s soon obvious to everyone but Mira that it is headed down a darn and dangerous path. She represents a beauty that he is unable to experience himself, thanks to a case of childhood polio.  This most certainly doesn’t provide him immunity for what transpired.  It was quite difficult to watch Mira, unable to warn her of what is to come.

Though she does go through a path of growth as a teen, her journey is not complete.  As she is forced to trudge through the past she long buried, she must come to terms with her true identity, one she attempted to wash away so many years ago.  Only in doing this can she be true to herself, and her loved ones around her.

Although this is certainly not an easy book to read, readers will quickly become engrossed in Mira’s world, transported (in my case) to a completely unknown world of prestigious ballet schools and careers.  It’s quite hard to classify this title, for it encompasses so many themes. What is easy to determine is its brilliance, completely unlike anything I have ever read. Highly, highly recommended.

Thank you to TLC Book Tours for providing me the opportunity to review this title.